1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to controlling user equipments, and in particular, but not exclusively, to detection of unwanted use of user equipments.
2. Description of the Related Art
A communication system can be seen as a facility that enables communication sessions between two or more entities such as user equipment and/or other nodes associated with the communication system. The communication may comprise, for example, communication of voice, data, multimedia and so on. A user equipment connected to a communication system may, for example, be provided with a two-way telephone call or multi-way conference call or with a data connection. A user equipment may communicate packet data to and/or from a server entity, or to and/or from at least one other user equipment.
Communication systems providing wireless communication for user equipment are also known. These systems are commonly referred to as mobile systems or wireless access systems. An example of the mobile systems is the public land mobile network (PLMN). A PLMN is commonly based on cellular architecture. Mobility and/or wireless access may also be provided, at least partially, by means of communication satellites. In certain systems the mobility may be restricted to small areas, examples of such wireless access systems including wireless local area networks (WLAN) and local cordless telephone systems.
In a common wireless system an access network serves a plurality of user equipment. The access network (AN) enables the user equipment to access the core part of a communication network that links the access network to other access networks or communication networks. Each access network is provided with at least one controller which may be connected to appropriate core network entities. For example, the third generation (3G) Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) networks employ access network control entities known as radio network controllers (RNC). In the second generation (2G) GSM (Global System for mobile) the access network is understood to be controlled by a base station controller (BSC). One or more gateway nodes may be provided for connecting a core network to other networks. For example, a mobile core network may be connected to other mobile or fixed line communication networks or communication networks such as an IP (Internet Protocol) and/or other packet data networks.
Typically an access network is provided with at least one station, commonly referred to as a base station. A user equipment may communicate wirelessly with two or more stations and/or access networks at the same time. Communication on the wireless interface between the user equipment and the access network can be based on an appropriate communication protocol.
Mobile communication systems have proven very popular. A great number of users are using routinely their mobile user equipment, especially cellular telephones, when and where ever required. However, there are locations and situations where the use of mobile user equipment may not be desired, or may even be dangerous. For example, use of mobile user equipments in an aircraft may cause a safety risk because of the sensitivity of the electronics of the aircraft (“avionics”) to electromagnetic radiation emitted by the mobile user equipment. Similarly, electronic equipment in places or environments such as ships, hospitals, monitoring and/or control rooms, laboratories and so on may be disturbed by radiation from mobile user equipment.
On the other hand, a growing number of users would like to communicate even when in environments such as aircrafts, ships, hospitals and so forth. Attempts to meet this demand have included installation of special phone systems for these places. However, the users have not always been willing to use these systems. The reasons for reluctance include inconvenience caused by, for example, the lack of address/phone book features of the common telephones and unfamiliarity of the operation of the system. Some users may have been put off by the presumption that the usage of such systems is costly.
A number of studies have been carried out to investigate the possible risks, especially in the field of aircrafts. These studies show that, under the right conditions, it is believed to be safe to allow the use of mobile user equipment in an environment such as an aircraft or in a hospital. This has lead to suggestions that the users should be able to use their own user equipment in such an environment while the wireless access is provided by a system that is known to be safe. The access system should also preferably be controlled by a body who has the responsibility over the environment.
There are also other, less technical but nevertheless important reasons why use of mobile user equipment may not be appropriate in all locations. For example, cellular telephones may unwittingly disturb occasions such as concerts, plays, speeches and so on. Some people might prefer that use of mobiles is not allowed in public places such as train carriages, busses, waiting rooms, art galleries and so on. A yet another example is occasions where a user needs to be isolated from the others. Such situations may arise, for example, during an exam or in a prison. In all these occasions it would help if it could be possible to detect any improper use of mobile user equipment.
The following considers an arrangement that has been proposed for a service permitting use of mobile user equipment while onboard an aircraft. The proposed concept is based on the idea of having an onboard access network which is linked to a ground based communication system. This allows controlled wireless traffic between the aircraft and the ground instead of uncontrolled traffic between individual mobile station and access networks on the ground. For this type of a service a body other than the actual operator of a subscriber may act as a mobile roaming operator. As such the body need not to have any subscribers of its own but may provide “real” operators with a possibility to offer roaming services to their subscribers when they are on-board an aircraft. A user onboard is enabled to switch on his/her wireless user equipment during the flight and use it to initiate and receive communications in the same way as when roaming in a visited network. According to a more sophisticated approach the user equipment may be switched automatically to a “flight safe mode”.
However, in real life situations it is possible that not all wireless user equipments are either switched off or registered with the onboard access network of the aircraft. For safety reasons the flight attendants nevertheless need to be sure that no such user equipment exists, and that all user equipment are either moved to the safe mode, either manually or automatically, or switched off before take off and throughout the entire flight. It may also be desirable to provide an onboard service for user equipment which does not support any specific automatic or other ensured safe mode switching, i.e. for user equipments which may be more likely to seek service from a non-allowed access system. Such equipment may access the onboard system by use of manual network selection to register to the onboard access system. However, in order to allow use of such user equipment, a verification system against accidental inappropriate use might be desired. It would therefore be useful to have a system in place for detecting that no user equipment other than those connected to the controlled system of the aircraft are in use.
It is appreciated that the problem is not limited to aviation environments. Similar problem and need may occur in any environment where there is a need to detect unauthorized or improper wireless access by user equipments. In addition to cellular systems, similar problems may need to be solved in other wireless access technologies, such as WLAN and Bluetooth.